When Your Flight Gets Cancelled

One of the worst experiences you can have as a traveller.
As some of you may be aware that my much-awaited break to Luxembourg and Germany last month didn’t end up happening due to my outbound flight being cancelled by the shit weather of recent (Cheers Thor with all your lightning attacks!) and couldn’t find any flights available that were convenient enough for me and mom. I was super-gutted and annoyed as this trip had been arranged for over a few months
All the effort in packing your luggage, saving extra money for the trip, booking accommodation and planning your activities throughout your travel excursion is all literally in vain.
Goodbye Travel Itinerary.
It may get you rattled and panicking a bit as all your plans are thrown out the window. It’s just psychologically crushing to say the least.
Well it doesn’t have to be all doom and gloom. There are multiple things you can do to salvage some positivity out of what is often a unfortunate set of circumstances.

Refund

If you were flying then simply get the money you paid for your flights back, and other journeys also by contacting the airline/train company’s customer service team or go onto the airline’s website to request for one if you have an online account with the airline you were supposed to be travelling with. I find the latter easier as it can be a pain spending 10 + mins waiting to get through to an adviser. The money refunded can be used to make other travel plans

Arranging alternative trips

You can perhaps start planning for another trip as a substitute for the one cancelled.
Use the money you got back for the cancellation. It can be just a weekend or day out to another city/towm in the same country you’re from that you hadn’t thought to explore. Travelling is more about the experience rather than the location sometimes. Still having the feeling of venturing still keep those wanderlust juices running :p
Not to be biased but Cardiff is if you’re from the UK. Known to he up there with the best alternative tourist locations in Europe.

Check For Rescheduled Flights

This kind of crosses over with organising alternative trips.
The best way to do this from personal experience is to visit the airline’s website and work out if the flights are rescheduled for later on during the day . Failing that, continue to make your way to the airport as more information tends to be held.
Should that be the case make quick contact with the accommodation, airport pickup services or anyone else necessary and let them know of the change of plans.

Seek flight compensation

A consolation perk of cancelled flights that are out of your control is that you’re often likely to be entitled to some extra money on top of your refund due to the cancellation or re-bookings of multiple bookings you’ve made.
Enter your personal details, details of flights such as flight number, booking reservation number departing and arrival airports and (all if known) and pretty much explain your reason. then it calculates the rough estimate of the money you’ll be receiving.
Mind you most flight compensation cases aren’t straightforward and can potentially take months before all is resolved so a bit of patience is a virtue.
I’m currently in the process of getting compensation with FlightRight in case others want to know which flight compensation website they can turn to. I might even do a review on them and the procedure that takes place when seeking compensation should everything go well.

Final Word

Sometimes not everything can go according to plan and it really sucks. That’s why it’s best that we plan for the unexpected.
Communication and taking the initiative is really key in order to get something out of nothing as much as it is a stressful situation seeing your journey postponed to say the least
Anyway be sure to follow me on Twitter or Instagram to stay up to date with myself and future content coming. I’ve been your very own Travel Connoisseur and will write to you lot very soon 😉
Johnny | The Travel Connoisseur
http://thetravelconnoisseur.wordpress.com/

So much good advice! We had a cancelled flight and were able to get s huge reimbursement, which is allowing us to fly to Hawaii this year! More people should definitely seek compensation when flights are delayed or cancelled. Airlines can be pretty generous when it comes to reimbursement. Thanks for sharing!http://Www.budgettravellove.com

I don’t think they know where to get compensation or are fully aware of their entitlement. I only knew to get compensation cos of the advice a coach steward gave me when my own flight got cancelled so maybe some more attention needs to be drawn towards it. Hope you have fun in Hawaii!